Instapundit had a link to this story, but Glenn Reynolds' tag line didn't nearly do justice to Harry Stein's saga of how a Dallas newspaper deliberately and very falsely smeared him as a racist, apparently in an attempt to sandbag a potential nominee to be Federal Reserve chairman. The story captures perfectly the iron triangle of (1) a single audience member determined, possibly in advance, to take offense at Stein's talk; (2) reporters willing to be taken in by the claim; and (3) Democratic politicians looking to make hay on their absolute favorite topic. This is the kind of story that makes me so mad I can't even see straight; Stein's good name is trashed with the most malicious of intentions and for the basest of purposes, and he is left with utterly no recourse but to try to tell the whole story in all its length and nuance. Rod Dreher on NRO linked to this blog post reflecting on a similar story, about protestors determined to shut down truthful discussions of Islamic regimes' treatment of Christians and Jews. The truth, sadly, does not always set us free.